Pete Ingalls is a hard-boiled private investigator--at least, he’s under the impression that he is. He speaks like a cross between Philip Marlowe and Mike Hammer, and thinks like a cross between Don Quixote and Bertie Wooster. He opens an office, hires a less-than-respectful secretary, and immediately finds himself with two cases to solve. One involves a dead woman; the other, a philandering news anchor. How he solves the cases (in spite of his own limitations) is juxtaposed with an account of who and what he really is and how he ended up in the p.i. business in the first place. Now out in paperback from NAL. Its sequel, THE BIG BOAT TO BYE-BYE, has just been published in hardcover. Published March 2, 2004 by New American Library (NAL).

(NB: The above précis comes from Weiner himself, and is his reply to a faux “fan letter,” written by me under a nom de plume, and sent via a secret email address I reserve for such purposes. It need hardly be noted that “juxtaposed” is a particularly bad choice of words in this context. Further, “projected” has about it a whiff of the pretentious. Finally, one wonders at the combination of naivete and wishful thinking behind the assumption that the American reading public is even remotely familiar with P.G. Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster. R.W.)

“Breezy, often funny…there’s some…writing…”
--Publisher’s Weekly

“…a very amusing homage to the golden age of PI's…Weiner…has…credits…”
--Deadly Pleasures

“…an outstanding reading experience…amnesia…”
--Allreaders.com

"...a lot of amusing scenes built on mostly funny jokes...He still doesn't recognize his own mother."
--N.Y. Daily News